Role of market sensing in enabling customer value creation

By on May 31, 2012

Market sensing, suggested by Piercy F N (2008), makes an organization to understand the behavior of its customers in detail to identify and analyze the needs and desires of customers belonging to all segments. It also includes studying the non-customers and analyzing the reason for which they remain as non-customers of a product or service.

Identifying growth through market sensing

Market sensing can also enable smooth communication with customers, and constitute continuous improvement of an organization. The measurement of customer’s attitudes is one of the prime concerns in today’s business environment. Customers’ requirement should be collected translated into several parameters in order to deliver value added services and products to them. This can be achieved by effective market sensing (Kordupleski R, 2003).

Market sensing not only helps in identifying present customers but also helps in understanding competitors, external factors that are likely to affect a firm in future and so on. Market sensing aids an organization to get a better view of the market and come out of false perceptions it has about the needs of its customers. Market sensing helps to identify potential market opportunities and therefore every organization must develop an outer core that would help it work towards satisfying customers.

Market sensing offers certain parameters that are most reliable and help firms to identify better market opportunities available for its future expansion and growth. Market sensing aims at learning the impact of product value on future customers’ purchase pattern based on their psychology and social behavior.

Customer value creation through market sensing

A single product or service without enhancement cannot last long in the market for years. Evolution and change is essential for a product to be used by customers for a long time. Companies such as Godej, Dabur, Britannia and ITC started over a century ago are still surviving in market owing to their innovative approach of customer value creation (Madaan, 2009). On the other hand products such as Crystal Pepsi from Pepsi, Zune and WebTV from Microsoft, Apple’s Pippin, McDonald’s Archdeluxe are few examples of .biggest failures in the market due to the lack of proper understanding of customers (Kazmi, 2008).

Hence, customer value creation determines the success of a product and ultimately the profits of an organization. As suggested by Piercy F N (2008), market sensing can be effective only when the customers are studied through the learning strategies that suit the present trends. Unlike using conventional market research tools such as questionnaires and surveys, building new strategies to learn the interest of customers will help organizations get a better picture of their customer’s needs. Adapting techniques like storytelling, listening to customers, addressing their grievances are effective, direct, meaningful, and efficient ways of understanding customer preferences and expectations.

References

  • Kordupleski R (2003), Mastering customer value management: the art and science of creating competitive advantage, Customer Value Management I, Randolph, NJ.
  • Madaan (2009), Fundamentals of retailing, Tata McGraw-Hill Education, New-Delhi.
  • Kazmi (2008), Strategic Management And Business Policy, Tata McGraw-Hill Education, New-Delhi.
  • Piercy F N (2008),Market-Led Strategic Change: Transforming the Process of Going to Market,   4/e Butterworth-Heinemann, Burlington, USA.

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